What drives an individual to kill another human being? This complex question has no single answer. One might say out of greed, anger, revenge, a domestic dispute taken too far, or even through self-defense. Generally, these reasons can represent the underlying motive behind most killings; however, what about the motives of serial killers? Scholars have often debated what truly makes a serial killer. Several theories have been proposed by criminologists to explain the origin of a serial killer. These include popular theories such as the labeling theory, social structure theory, strain theory, differential association theory, or learning theory. This paper will analyze the violent phenomena of serial killing through the social control theory. …show more content…
An organized serial killer tends to be educated and their serial killing is carefully planned out (Gerbeth, 1995). Organized serial killers are cunning, socially adept, mobile, and take trophies from their victims (Gerbeth, 1995). Contrastingly, disorganized killers do not carefully plan out their serial killing (Gerbeth, 1995). They tend to have a low IQ and generally fail to make an effort to cover up their killings (Gerbeth, 1995). Whether a serial killer is organized or disorganized, they have a variety of motives that they operate through (Dogra et al., …show more content…
Psychotic serial killers are deemed insane and do not think that their deviant behavior is morally wrong (Gerbeth, 1995). Psychologists have stated that an antisocial personality disorder and psychotic behavior may arise from a traumatic incident during the individual’s childhood (Dogra et al., 2012). It is not a coincidence that many serial killers have claimed they suffered sexual abuse during their childhood (Dogra et al., 2012). Due to the extreme vile behaviors of serial killers, they become a phenomenon in modern culture (Dogra et al., 2012). People are captivated by serial killers, giving them an almost celebrity like status. Serial killers such as Ted Bundy or Jeffery Dahmer have even had films made about their lives and killings. Serial killers have essentially become icons of infamy in our
According to federal law, the term ‘serial killings’ means a series of three or more killings, not less than one of which was committed within the United States, having common characteristics such as to suggest the reasonable possibility that the crimes were committed by the same actor or actors. Throughout history, serial killers have always been a fascination among many individuals. On numerous occasions, law enforcement has tried to dive into the psyche of these killers to determine why they kill. There have also been numerous stereotypes placed on serial killers. Typical stereotypes are serial killers are all white males, loners, and that their crimes are driven by sex.
He proposes that it is the trauma in conjunction with outside factors such as social or environmental, which exacerbate the problem and leads to the criminal activity (Hickey, 2016, p149). Hickey says that the most common trauma experienced by serial killers is childhood traumatisation caused by rejection and that this rejection can be in the form of rejection by family members or an unstable/abusive home life (Hickey, 2016, p148). Hickey says that rejection by family members, e.g. relatives or parents, is the most common cause of childhood traumatisation and that an unstable, abusive home has been proposed as a major form of rejection (Hickey, 2016, p149). Holmes, Tewksbury and Holmes (1999), in their ‘fractured identity syndrome’ theory of serial murder, suggest that serial killers are similar to everyone else in the early years of personality development and lead normal lives. They argue that an event or series of events that often take place in the serial murderer’s adolescent years, causes a fracturing of the personality and that this fracturing, following subsequent incidents, causes the fracture to explode into a
Common psychological disturbances in the stages of making a serial killer are seen in childhood and are usually based upon mental and psychological abuse endured by a child.
Due to crime-inspired shows that air on television, fascination with serial killers presents itself more and more. People want to learn what makes a person break to the point of taking another’s life. Some suggest that killing releases a sexual desire, while others suggest that revenge may be the motive. A serial killer has the stereotypical look of a white male who tends to act socially awkward, not easily approachable, and possesses a mental illness. While the accuracy of this look tends to be true occasionally, the majority of the time a serial killer looks no different than anyone else and appears rather social. Some experts believe that a serial killer has codes in his DNA which causes him to kill; nonetheless, other experts believe environmental
Several serial killers have a definitive and common personality profile. Almost every major social, biological, psychological behavioural influence that has been seriously suggested as playing a role in causing crime has been thoroughly thought as potentially contributing to the behavior of serial killers (Levin, 2008). The time period and amount of killings fluctuate depending on the individual committing the crimes. Usually, the murders happen in different geographical areas. A mass murder has a separate definition than a serial killer, because a serial killer has a “cooling off” period, where mass murders kill several individual in a single event.
A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Most people do not understand what can make a person want to kill multiple people for no reason other than their own satisfaction gain. In actuality, serial killers have been studied for over hundreds of years, and the information that has been documented continues to grow. The research that I have gathered about serial killers focuses on their childhood development, the differences and similarities between male and female serial killers, and finally general information on how their brains operate and their motives for committing such harmful acts. There have been many theories over the years about how a person becomes a serial killer, and how having an unstable childhood affects a person.
Serial killers are defined to “be driven by instinct and desire to kill.” In a study done in 2000, Dr, Richard Davidson says, “people with a large amount of aggression – in particular people who have committed aggressive murders or have a social disorder – have almost no brain activity in the orbital frontal cortex or the anterior cingulated cortex while activity in the amyglade continued perfectly. The orbital frontal cortex and the anterior congulated cortex control emotional impulses while the amyglade controls reactions to fear.” Davidson concludes his research claiming that although environment can and will affect a serial killer’s thoughts, it is a killer’s genetic makeup that inevitably creates murderous thoughts.
Serial killers have many frightening facets. The most frightening thing about them is that experts still do not know what makes a human become a serial killer. Many experts believe serial killers become what they are because they have a genetic disposition or brain abnormality while other experts believe that a serial killer is created by childhood abuse; and some other experts believe that it is a combination of both brain abnormalities and abusive childhood experiences that creates a serial killer. A murderer is considered a serial killer when they “murder three or more persons in at least three separate events with a “cooling off period” between kills” (Mitchell and Aamodt 40). When defining a serial killer, their background, genes, and brain are not mentioned; perhaps one day those aspects of the serial killer can be included.
'Serial murder'; has long been a term used to describe those human beings that repeatedly commit heinous crimes. It is rare that the average person probes the mind of a serial killer without bias. However, what lies behind the eyes of a serial killer deserves more than the cold hard look that society so often gives (Aaronson, Inter...
Mass Murderers and Serial Killers are nothing new to today’s society. These vicious killers are all violent, brutal monsters and have an abnormal urge to kill. What gives people these urges to kill? What motivates them to keep killing? Do these killers get satisfaction from killing? Is there a difference between mass murderers and serial killers or are they the same. How do they choose their victims and what are some of their characteristics? These questions and many more are reasons why I was eager to write my paper on mass murderers and serial killers. However, the most interesting and sought after questions are the ones that have always been controversial. One example is; what goes on inside the mind of a killer? In this paper I will try to develop a better understanding of these driven killers and their motives.
Organized killers often appear to many as socially normal. They typically plan their kills in advance, have some way of transportation, and carry a ‘murder kit’ with them which contains various tools necessary for their crimes. They also often cruise public spaces for victims which includes prostitutes, the homeless, teenagers, students walking on campuses, or active night spots such as bars and clubs. Additionally, their victims tend to fit a specific profile. The victims usually have the same hair color and are of the same race and ethnicity.
The nurturing of individuals plays a role in the making of killers, as 94% of serial killers had experienced some form of abuse as children and 42% have suffered severe physical abuse (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2010). A child abuse is a determining factor, in which supports the idea that serial killers and psychopath, are influenced significantly by nurture (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2011). In most cases social, cultural and physiological determinants all play a role in influencing serial killers to grow into a mass murderer. It is important that physiological and social determinants can be identified, so they could be altered for the purpose of preventing the number of crime.
A serial killer's murdering spree is methodical and extremely well planned, and the motive usually is to get even (Douglas, p. 137). A serial killer often plans his crimes extremely carefully. He looks for a certain type...
In their book, these authors have proposed four different types of serial killers based on their varying degree of motivation and anticipated gains: visionary, mission, hedonistic and power control. According to the authors, we can classify serial killers based on their motivation behind the killing. The visionary serial killer resembles Dietz’s (1986) description of the psychotic killer. These killers’ crimes may, therefore, result in invocation of an insanity defense (Miller, 2014). The missionary serial killer murders under the motive of ridding the world of those he considers to be ‘undesirable’.
The question of whether a serial killer’s actions and psychology is predetermined at birth is up for contention. It may be impossible to believe that one’s brain has been genetically brewed to murder. However, it is difficult to contemplate how society, through environmental variables, can cultivate a vengeful, revenge seeking monster.